EMCC advances to Region 23 women’s tourney semis with 63-40 win at Itawamba
The sixth-seeded Lady Lions of East Mississippi Community College advanced to the semifinals of the NJCAA Region 23 Women’s Basketball Tournament by claiming a solid 63-40 road win over No. 3 seed and MACCC North Division co-champion Itawamba during Monday’s regional quarterfinals played at ICC’s Davis Event Center.
FULTON — The sixth-seeded Lady Lions of East Mississippi Community College advanced to the semifinals of the NJCAA Region 23 Women's Basketball Tournament by claiming a solid 63-40 road win over No. 3 seed and MACCC North Division co-champion Itawamba during Monday's regional quarterfinals played at ICC's Davis Event Center.
Winners of eight of their last nine decisions, Coach Sharon Thompson's 12-4 EMCC Lady Lions will now take on second-seeded and division co-champion Coahoma during Wednesday's regional semifinals to be played at Mississippi College in Clinton. Approximate tip-off time is set for 7:30 p.m. at MC's A.E. Wood Coliseum, following Wednesday's 5 p.m. women's semifinal-round regional tournament game pitting top-ranked and unbeaten Jones College against LSU Eunice.
Wednesday's EMCC-Coahoma women's matchup will mark this season's rubber match between the two MACCC North Division foes, as both teams proved victorious on their respective home floors earlier this year. The Lady Lions claimed a 65-45 home win over Coahoma in Scooba back on Feb. 4, while the home-standing Lady Tigers returned the favor a month later (March 4) with a 51-38 home victory over EMCC in Clarksdale. The 14-2 Coahoma Lady Tigers have since compiled a 13-game winning streak following their 20-point road setback to EMCC during the first week of February.
After falling to Itawamba twice during the regular season by a total of only six points (73-68 at ICC & 51-50 at EMCC), the Lady Lions scored the last 10 points of the opening quarter of Monday's rematch to take a 20-9 lead into the second quarter.
The visitors then used a 7-0 spurt early in the second quarter to mount a 17-point advantage (28-11) midway through the period on Ja'Mia Hollings' basket. Dominating the boards with 26 first-half rebounds as a team – nine by Hollings – EMCC owned a 33-19 halftime lead on the scoreboard.
The Lady Indians managed to cut the deficit to 12 points at the start of the second half and later to 13 points midway through the third quarter. Hollings and Markiema Lancaster then combined to score EMCC's last eight points of the quarter to lengthen the lead to 18 points (50-32) heading to the final quarter.
The Lady Lions continued to maintain their comfortable margin for the remaining 10 minutes of play en route to registering their ninth victory of the season by 20 or more points.
Hollings, a two-time MACCC Women's Basketball Player of the Week this season, recorded her 21st career double-double for EMCC with a game-high 15 points and 12 rebounds. Shakira Wilson and Lancaster added 11 and nine points, respectively, for the winners.
Playing without season scoring leader Demetria Shephard for the game, Itawamba's lone scorer in double figures on the night was Nadia Gillespie with 11 points.